COURT UPHOLDS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR AWARD TO BROWN & KELLY CLIENT

Yesterday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld almost $4 million in damages awarded to Elijah Turley by the United States District Court in Buffalo, as a result of his employment discrimination and harassment claims against his former employer, Arcelor-Mittal Steel.

Although the Court reduced the punitive damages portion of the judgment from $5 million to $2.6 million, it turned away almost every argument made by the defendants on appeal.

The court noted that Mr. Turley had “endured an extraordinary and steadily intensifying drumbeat of racial insults, intimidation, and degradation over a period of more than three years.” The court noted that the employer’s “meager investigations and nearly total lack of action failed to stop the escalating abuse; instead, managers often appeared to condone or even participate in part in the harassment.”

While the court observed that few recorded cases had dealt with an “award of quite this magnitude” ($1.32 million) in damages for pain and suffering, the reason for this is that this level of harassment and mistreatment had never before been reported, and “the case before us appears to be unique.”

Brown and Kelly, and trial counsel Donald B. Eppers, were honored to represent Mr. Turley in his efforts to obtain justice for what he endured.
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